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Facial Recognition, Macho Men, and a Dearth of Burgers
A roundup of stories we’re reading about the coronavirus today
Published in
1 min readMay 6, 2020
- California lawmakers debated legislation to regulate the use of facial recognition technology that would not only make it easier to track suspected criminals but also Covid-19 patients, reported STAT. Other states are already using facial scanning in their coronavirus response to pinpoint people with fevers, sweating, or discoloration.
- The female leaders of Germany, Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland, and Norway have revealed an important insight during this pandemic, but it’s not that women are better leaders in a crisis, argues Helen Lewis in The Atlantic. Rather, she writes, “It’s just that strongmen are doing worse.”
- “Cells are furry,” reads the introduction to a Quanta Magazine story on the sugars that coat the coronavirus and my favorite opening line in recent months. Diving deep into the study of these sugars, known as glycomics, it explains how these sugars could be key to finding Covid-19’s weak spot.
- Wendy’s, one of the most popular fast-food hamburger chains in the United States, has run out of beef. The New York Times reports that one-fifth of Wendy’s locations are out of beef products — a result of meat processing plants shutting down due to coronavirus outbreaks — and may just represent the tip of the meat-shortage iceberg.
